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Because the ship contains a large amount of air in it. But iron nail doesn't have any space to contain air in it. Air is a lightest thing. That can't sink in water. This method is used in submarines to sink it. There is a tank in the submarine. When they need to sink it they fill the tank with water. To float it they use to fill the tank with air.

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13y ago
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14y ago

because the ship has air in its hull. Its a little bit more complicated putting it simply.

We heard of Archimedes' principle, the weight of fluid displaced is equal to the weight of the object. A iron ship floats because it displaces a large amount of water and the pressure of the surrounding water exerts a large upthrust on it.

The nail sinks because the upthrust is not big enough to equal the weight of the nail, assuming the nails density is greater than water.

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8y ago

Whether a body will float or sink depends on the density of the body. Density of a body is the mass divided by the volume of the body.

Density of an iron pin is more than water so it sinks. The density of a ship is mass of the ship divided by the volume of the ship. Although the ship is made of iron, the volume of the ship is so huge that the density becomes less than the density of water. The reason being, ship is not a mass of solid ron. There is lots of empty spaces and other less dense substances within the volum of the ship.

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13y ago

One Answer:

The density of an iron ball is more than water so it sinks, but the density of ship is less than water so it floats.

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11y ago

The density of an iron nail is greater than that of water whereas the density of iron ship is lesser as compared to water.Also,the streamlined shape makes the iron ship to float.

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12y ago

It is the principle of displacement. A ship is hollow, a nail is solid. The ship will displace more water than a nail would.

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9y ago

The general rule is that an object will sink if it has a greater density than the liquid in which it is placed.

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15y ago

Because of bouyancy. XD

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8y ago

A boat float only if contain air.

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Q: Why does a ship made of iron floats while a piece of iron sinks?
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Iron has a higher density than water, so it sinks in water; but is less dense than mercury so it floats.


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Why does an aluminum cube sink but a sheet of aluminum float?

Have you heard of Archimedes. Well he stated that the weight of water displaced by an object is equal to the weight of the object. From here we conclude that object being more denser than water sinks those being less dense than water floats. An Aluminum cube has a much higher density than that of water and the sheet is less dense than water. Thus the former floats while the latter sinks. Now you also might have noticed that an iron nail sinks while an iron ship floats. I hope now you can answer this question!!


A cork piece floats on water but an iron nail sinks give reason?

Things that are less dense than the water they displace will float (like cork) Things that are more dense than the water (like a nail) sink.


Why should float on water while it is made up of iron sinks in water?

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Is an objects density determines whether it floats or sinks in water?

yes it does. try to sink a cork. it doesn't sink but on the other hand a iron nail does.the higher the mass the more the density and so the object sinks.


Why does iron sinks while iron boat floats on sea?

jk its because the boats are full of air, which is less dense than water, and so is unable to sink. if there is a hole in the boat, the air will proceed to be replaced with water, and therefore sink. There must be enough air in the boat to be able to carry the large weight of the iron.


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